Is Punjab really serious about regulating private institutions?

IS the Punjab government really serious about regulating private educational institutions of the province? Yes, if one sees the prompt response by the government through recent amendments in the 1984 Ordinance in the wake of growing concern among the general public.
No, if one closely observes government efforts to regulate affairs of private schools over the years.
The Punjab Private Educational Institutions (Promotion and Regulation) Ordinance was promulgated in 1984 with an aim to bring private institutions under some sort of control. It was meant for privately managed schools as well as colleges. However over the years the successive governments miserably failed to frame required rules and regulations under the Ordinance making it a “toothless” law.
On Saturday, the Punjab government introduced some amendments to the Punjab Private Educational Institutions (Promotion and Regulation) Ordinance 1984, bringing it in line with the “needs” of the present day. For example, under the 1984 Ordinance unregistered private schools could only be imposed a fine of Rs 100 for each day “during which the contravention” continued. However, under the amended law, administrative penalty up to Rs 20,000 per day could be imposed on unregistered private schools from the date of notice is served. “If the contravention continues for more than thirty days, the Registering Authority, in addition to any other action or penalty under the Ordinance, shall file a complaint against the In-charge in the court of First Class Magistrate and the court can punish the In-charge with fine up to Rs 2 million but shall not be less than Rs 200,000," states the amended law.
While the 1984 Ordinance is silent on mandatory purchase of books, uniforms and stationery etc from designated shops of private institutions, the amended law has come quite clear as under the law private institutions shall not require the parents to purchase textbooks, uniform or other material from a particular shop or provider.
Similarly, under the 1984 Ordinance, the private institutions were not bound to consult the government to fix the maximum amount of fee or any increase in fee. However, the amended law states, “The Registering Authority shall fix the maximum amount of fee which will be charged by an institution or a category of institutions from the students. The institution shall not charge any amount from the students other than the fee.” Likewise the amended law states “In case, there is a reasonable justification for appropriate increase in the fee for the purposes of the next academic year, the charge may apply to the Registering Authority at least three months before the start of next academic year, proposing reasonable increase of the fee.”
But the real question is whether the government will also frame the rules and regulations for implementation of the amended law or forget the same as witnessed in the past? The amended law is also not going to benefit people if the rules are not framed.
Ahmad Ali, Senior Research Fellow at Institute of Social and Policy Science (I-SAPS), says, “The amended law will be mere eyewash if the rules are not framed.” According to him, the rules should be framed, notified and made public to benefit the people in true sense. He also sees mushroom growth of private institutions as government’s failure to implement the law.
Explaining further the I-SAPS research fellow said the rules were necessary for implementation of law and could fill the gap in case there was any lacuna in the law.
Meanwhile, sources said upscale private educational institutions, which see the recent developments as efforts to clip their wings, have decided to form a joint forum to press the government not to go for new legislation as well as taking back recent amendments in the 1984 Ordinance.
Talking to The News, Punjab Education Minister Rana Mashhood Ahmad Khan and Secretary Schools Abdul Jabbar Shaheen expressed their resolve of providing relief to the people and claimed the rules and regulations would also be framed on an immediate basis this time for proper implementation of the amended law.
The minister said apart from the recent amendments, the government was set to introduce new legislation vis-à-vis affairs of private educational institutions. He said the draft law had been sent to the cabinet and would be approved in a couple of weeks.
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